The Raiders have officially arrived. 

It’s taken some time, but the Raiders (3-3-1) are finally starting to live up to nj.com’s preseason ranking, which had the Scotch Plains-Fanwood varsity girls soccer team ranked second in the state. 

After beating Pope John on Saturday 5-1, SPF dominated Oak Knoll 4-0 Tuesday, Sept. 28 in every facet of the game. The Raiders controlled possession from the first minute of play and senior captain and defender Ashley DeFrancesco opened the scoring in the 26th minute off a free kick served in by senior captain and University of Tennessee commit Leah Klurman. 

“We got a good revenge on them [Oak Knoll] because they beat us last time in the opener [1-0] so I think it was a really good win by the whole team and we had a bunch of different goal scorers, which was really good,” Klurman told The Fanscotian. 

The Raiders would go on to score three more goals in the second half and outshoot Oak Knoll 10 to four. While SPF should have had more goals in the first half, head coach Kevin Ewing was just glad that his team is finding more opportunities on net — something that didn’t happen often enough in the beginning of the season. 

“Just the fact that we got some opportunities [chuckles], I was happy with that,” Ewing said. “Obviously we want to convert those opportunities.” 

Game Ball: Leah Klurman

After an underwhelming start to the season losing three of their first four, the Raiders have outscored their previous two opponents 9-1 with Klurman contributing Carli Lloyd-esque performances in both the victories. Klurman has assisted or scored on all but two goals in the past two games, scoring four on Saturday and contributing two assists and a goal in the victory against Oak Knoll. 

“I’ve just taken my anger out on all of our losses, especially theirs [Oak Knoll] because they’re the ones who started our losing streak,” Klurman said. “We’re picking ourselves back up but I was very angry going into it.” 

Although the midfield made up of junior Gia Milano and senior Alexa Fazio are integral to the team’s success, if the Raiders make a deep run into November, they will be heavily leaning on Klurman’s elite play. 

It’s fair to ask if the Raiders are too reliant on Klurman, but Ewing isn’t concerned about that. 

“They’re starting not to [always go through Klurman] and obviously finding the kids that scored today,” Ewing said. “Other kids created opportunities which is what we needed today.”

Leftovers: Corinne Lyght’s Fantastic Week 

Former Raider and Lehigh University freshman Corinne Lyght was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week coming in clutch in Lehigh University’s two victories against Holy Cross and Lafayette, contributing to all four Mountain Hawk goals including this beautiful finish. 

“It was great,” Ewing said. “She had two amazing assists, they are online, and a great goal. The two assists were against Lafayette, and I forget who the goal was against, but she’s playing great. Great player and great kid.” 

The Raiders have their much-anticipated rematch against Westfield–after losing the first meeting 3-2 in overtime–on Thursday, Sept. 30 at 4:30 away as Klurman and SPF look to get revenge.